The next goal is to take the time saved processing electronic returns and focus IT assets on bolstering tax enforcement, he said.

Although the IRS has improved service to citizens through training for its personnel and new Internet services, enforcement has lagged. 'Most would agree that improvement of IRS taxpayer services was achieved in large part at the expense of needed enforcement activities,' Everson said last week during a speech in Washington.

It takes two years on average now before complicated corporate returns are put in the hands of an examiner. 'Electronic filing by corporations will facilitate our analysis of data and help us calibrate risk,' he said.